The Level of Education Should Not Define Your Success, Point Blank with Asian Weekly 3rd November, 2017

01Dec

“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.”

John Dewey

Education is the most beautiful gift you can give anybody. There is no bigger joy than to see someone use the knowledge and create opportunities, inventions or solve problems. There is no doubt the world has so many unsolved issues, for example, what is dark matter or how to get an unlimited supply of water and so much more.

While it may be the jobs of the scientists, physicists, doctors and economists to really get to the bottom of the mystery, so are other professions crucial to this task. For example if you did not have an able tax man you would not be able to enjoy the profits you are at your business. If you did not have a capable maid/house help then you can not go to your regular work day free minded. Each person is important in this chain where the wheels of life are chugging along as smoothly as possible.

Education in life is two fold. There is your regular school then there is the school of life. There is major debate especially in the developed countries of how education needs a change, the syllabus needs a new look and children need a new way of teaching. They want to be more life skills and aspirational oriented such that the child is prepared for employment. One can argue that are we creating in direct robots to take over or get into the jobs market easily? Well maybe. Imagine if you are now 40 years old and still have not bought your house, but if your teacher when you were 12 years or even 16 years old told you what a mortgage is all about, wouldn’t you have done something about it as soon as you entered the job market?

The highest level of education to be achieved is a PhD. According to the Princeton Review, they say:

“Each year, some PhD candidates do not meet the requirements of their graduate programs and are asked to leave. Others choose to leave because they are burnt out, or their interests have changed. Some students who don’t complete the PhD leave with a master’s degree; others leave with no degree at all. You should be prepared for these scenarios by making a back-up plan.

Successful PhD students thrive in a highly intellectual environment, are willing to work very hard with only a possible payoff, love their field of study, and don’t mind forgoing impressive paychecks. If this sounds like you, forge ahead!”

Then the question is, will such a candidate be a great professor? It takes 9 years to get a PhD and according to the Commission for University Education (CUE) Kenya, the deadline for professors to get their PhD is early 2018.

This rush is causing panic and leak of fake doctorate degrees in the market. A great professor is not made by a PhD but by character and attitude. If the English mathematician G. H. Hardy at the University of Cambridge, England did not think of giving Srinivasa Ramanujan the chance to travel and appear at the English university, then Ramanujan’s work would never have been recognized. It is the personality of a teacher that can make or break a student. Yes we can not dismiss the teachers and professors who have studied and achieved much academically.

But when the teacher or professor can not improve the running of the institute, give better opportunities to the children, be fair to parents, regardless of race, not make Government changes where required to put children and their future first, then their education is useless.

If you as a PhD professor want the best for your child, then why is it different for other non-related children? Why the bias of being in an elite class? Why not also show your children what is the reality and tell them to support the better for the good of all children? Why the snooty behavior that only you know best? Why is your hard work more important than the taxi driver who is struggling to put food on the table for his family. If the attitude of the education institutes is to raise the standard of qualification, then they too must deliver excellence service at reasonable fees. The right of education should never depend on your financial status or the class of “elite education club” that you come from. Be fair.